Swiss Format. Three heats were played during this phase.
Participants could play one game per day, however, additional
wins after the first did not confer any special benefit other
than that of additional experience. A total of 48 games were
played with the Naboo winning 56%. Results were as follows:

Notable events during the Swiss included Buddy Sinigaglio,
defending champion, barely qualifying by winning his last preliminary
round game. Also, an extremely rare event occurred twice within
ten minutes when Maul and the only remaining Jedi died on the
same card, with one attacking and killing the other while being
simultaneously riposted to death.

Single Elimination. A total of 28 games were played
with the Naboo winning 61%. The elimination rounds were played
successively every two hours with no breaks or byes. Adjudication
was necessary six times, however, most games finished well before
the two-hour time limit. The cause of adjudication in most cases
was players taking an inordinate amount of time to pick six cards
out of a hand of ten. When an odd number of participants advanced
to a following round, an eliminator was pressed into service
to preclude a bye.

During the 1st elimination round, 28 participants squared
off for battle. Darth Maul won six of the 14 games. During succeeding
rounds, Darth Maul tallied only five wins, while the Naboo won
seven times.

The final tally for the 76 games played was Darth Maul, 32
wins - Naboo, 44 wins. The first place finisher, Larry Lingle,
was 4-0 with the Naboo and 1-0 with Darth Maul during the single
elimination rounds.

Larry Lingle was unstoppable. Some of the other experienced
players called him Lucky Larry. Larry defeated Mike Tyler, John
Pack, Craig Moffitt and Buddy Sinigaglio for the plaque. Tyler
and Sinigaglio were AREA rated in the top three coming into doncon.
Lingle also defeated veteran gamer Ken Whitesell - Ken claimed
he was sharked into the match against a supposedly "over
the hill" former wargamer who was only participating for
the experience.

Jon Macomber, then AREA rated at number 1, choked out in the
first round. It was Jon's first doncon and he found things different
east of the gaming fish bowl in Denver. His mile high cohort,
Mike Tyler, then AREA rated at number 3, also cracked under the
strain of competition.

In a quarter-final game between Buddy Sinigaglio (Maul) vs.
Sean McCulloch (Naboo), Maul one hit from death, triple blocked
an Obi-Wan attack of three hits. Maul then finished off the demoralized
Obi-Wan on his next card. On the following hand, Buddy started
with a "Darth Maul's Rage" card which allowed the Sith
Lord to wipe out six palace guards and end the game.

Semi-final Game: Craig Moffitt (Maul) vs. Larry Lingle
(Naboo).
Horrible shooting by both players forced this game to the time
limit and adjudication was necessary. The three judges were unanimous
in awarding victory to Lingle based on the superior position
of his Naboo forces. Larry held the throne room with a half dozen
palace guards and Obiwan, while Craig had no droids at all on
the second or third floors. Both players were asked to reveal
the strategy that they would use to win the game, if it was not
to be adjudicated. Larry stated that he would play Anakin cards
to reach the control ship while killing all of Craig's droids
that were stupid enough to follow orders to attack the throne
room. Craig said that, given a choice, he would rather be in
Larry's position, but that he could still win this game with
the droids, because Larry's idiotic moves would probably squander
the advantage that the Naboo possessed.

Semi-final Game: Buddy Sinigaglio (Maul) vs. Phil Rennert
(Naboo).
Maul killed both Jedi at lightning speed. On one attack Maul
scored a rare six hits against Qui-Gon. After the Jedi were summarily
dispatched, Maul at almost full strength, came out of the generator
core looking for more blood. On the first hand, Maul ripped through
12 palace guards on the bottom floor. Phil conceded at this point.

Championship Game: Larry Lingle (Naboo) vs. Buddy Sinigaglio
(Maul).The
early game saw Larry rolling excellent dice. Often hitting with
every roll. Larr'ys Queens and Palace Guards sliced battle droids
into slag at high speed. Buddy reacted by generating wave upon
wave of new droids, bringing them into the palace in a seeming
unending stream. While Larry was killing droids at high speed,
his Jedi were hacking Darth Maul to pieces. Maul was quickly
dispatched with a series of four and five hit combinations. Obi-Wan
then advanced to the second floor of the palace, killing all
droids attempting to bypass him to reach the unprotected palace
guards on the third floor. As the game progressed, Buddy's game
of attrition with the expendable droids began to take its toll.
Lingle's palace guard count was becoming dangerously low and
he altered his strategy to attempt an Anakin blitz. There were
two starfighter cards in position, one on each of the first two
spots. Larry played four Anakin cards, rolled perfectly six consecutive
times, and unexpectedly advanced to within one spot of victory.
Buddy, knowing that the tide was turning quickly, did not fret
because he had three starfighter cards to play on the next turn
to keep Anakin from shutting everything down. Larry then revealed
the first of his three bonus cards. Another Anakin card. Again,
Larry again was flawless with his seventh consecutive Anakin
dice roll and advanced to the final circle, shutting down all
Buddy's droids, thus ending the game in shocking fashion.